Almost two years ago Sandra Sampayo and I decided to make a trip down to Colombia, South America to make a movie.
It wasn't the most likely thing for us to decide to do. I had shot and edited video only a hand full of times. Sandra had worked on documentary projects with MTV and VH1, but neither of us had made a documentary on our own.
We wanted to tell a story about one of the most under-reported humanitarian crises in the world: a story about the four million Colombians who have been made homeless by the country’s drug war.
After months of preparation we flew to Colombia, the country where Sandra was born, and hit the ground running. We had only 10 days and we wanted to travel to three distinct areas of Colombia that were experiencing violence at the time. We learned of new paramilitary groups that are running drugs and terrorizing these communities.
The conclusion we came to through our reporting was that even though the oldest guerrilla group, the FARC, is crumbling and some paramilitary groups have disbanded, all this has done is create a power vacuum allowing younger, more vicious, and less ideological groups to emerge. It’s a battle for money and territory, and its fueled by the largest cocaine trade in the world. The general relationship that has created violence in Colombia for more than 40 years has not changed.
Colombia's drug trade is still flourishing despite billions of dollars of U.S. military aid dedicated to fighting it.
As the war drags on it is innocent Colombians who continue to pay the ultimate price.
Some of Colombia’s top musicians, including Juanes and Aterciopelados, participated in the making of this film by sharing their art and their stories.
WATCH: BUSCO PERSONAS: The Faces of Colombia's War at http://www.youtube.com/...
To get involved go to: http://www.ahmsa.org/
Thanks,
Lagan Sebert and Sandra Sampayo